The pressure to look slimmer during the summer is huge. It’s all in the perfectly sculpture body image that the media portraits everywhere. It seems we cannot, except we can actually. Over the years I have learnt that acceptance is the best thing to do to live better in my own skin. In fact after I turned the corner of the 40s I have started feeling more confident with my body image (without having slimmed down a single pound). Maturity has its advantages. And here I am wearing a little orange dress.
Unless you are in your 20s and super slim there will always be some parts of your body which are not perfect hence it is better to learn how to cover them without loosing your femininity and grace.
Fashion is so flexible to adjust that. One of Britain’s finest fashion stylists, Mark Heyes is currently working with British fashion label Marisota to create clothing for women who want to look good while feeling comfortable in their skin using a new shapeologist approach combined with modern fabric that helps hiding some of our imperfection while making us look gorgeous.
As I am not a model, since meeting Mark and the Marisota team last autumn I have found some dresses and fashion items within the Shapeology range that I would have never worn before as I thought that my round figure would look like a German sausage Bratwurst in them. I was lucky enough to spend some time with Mark looking at different ways to dress my all round figure (size 12 to 16 depending from the clothes) and trying to be a bit daring also with colours.
Check out these images of myself and the model wearing the little orange dress above the knee. I would have never worn a skirt or a dress that sits above the knee without Mark’s encouragement but I did not look too bad in that. In fact it is enough to cover my muscly legs with black tights to look slimmer. The colour orange (Bright tomato) would certainly not be my favourite for fashion and usually quite difficult to wear unless you are a size zero. But here I am brave enough to try out this daring new fashion items. Is Orange the new Black? Guess what?! I had to walk away with that dress. Surprised?
What makes a difference is that it is a Bespoke Fit type of dress in a comfortable stretch fabric that does not stick to your body hence enhancing its best parts. The pleat detail at the base of the soft V-neck has been specially designed to flatter the bust (especially if you have bog boobs). For me personally it is the sauciest fashion piece in my wardrobe but I wouldn’t have got it if it did not feel right on my figure, and it helps to create a sleek and smooth silhouette. With practical pockets to the front, the dress also features an exposed zip to the back and half sleeves (which helps looking slimmer if you have ‘muscly’ arms).
What I love about Marisota is also that you choose first your dress size and then your cup size (It’s called Bespoke Fit because you can tailor it to your ‘imperfect’ figure). The dress is machine washable so I won’t keep investing on it to dry clean it.
Accessorizing also helps enhance the dress. Mark suggested I use a Fluorescent Pink clutch. I would have naturally never picked it – it feels so daring, but Mark was right because the pink made the orange colour stand out more.
What do you think of this look?
I cannot wait for the weather to be fair and warm to start wearing all my Marisota outfits with pride.
Our new Spring magazine is also orange! 🙂
